A New Start A New Family
by SarahShalomDavid
Summary: After Jenifer Shepherd's death, Ziva cannot face being at N.C.I.S nor being in the U.S and so she moves to France not realizing she is pregnant with Jethro's child. What will he do when she leaves? How will he cope when he also has to cope with Jen's death?


The soft sound of Ziva's voice was the only noise in the country cottage, the beautiful scenary around the home was encased in darkness. No street lights. No neighbors. No traffic. Nothing. The country styled straw thatched roof and stone walls kept them safe from the cold night outside of their home. Her voice was as soft as an angel's wing and carried in the air as easily as the clouds were carried in the skies above their heads.

She had moved to France soon after the death of Jenifer Shepherd, the woman who had been almost like a mother to her, the mother she never had. Her true mother had been killed by her father in front of her dark brown eyes when she was only six years old. She still remembered the way her mother shielded her from him, she still remembered her voice and how much she loved her. Her mother died to protect her. Her mother would always be a shining bright star in the night's sky above their Bordeuax home in France.

A little girl with tanned skin, curly dark brown hair with natural highlights of caramel and the brightest blue eyes lay peacefully in her arms as she rocked gently to and fro on the wooden hand made rocking chair. The rocking chair had a beautiful carving of a fairy on it with the little girl's name 'Sarah' which meant Princess in Hebrew. Sarah had not been born when Ziva moved to France, but now the thriving, healthy little girl was almost six months old. An energetic little one who loved being sung to her by her mother.

When Ziva left, Jethro struggled with her absence, not only did he have to get used to the fact that his ex-loved was dead but that his current lover was leaving him to live thousands of miles away on a completely different continent. He did not know she had his child growing within the depths of her womb. Then again neither did she at the time.

He made the decision after spending a few hours without her with him that he would follow, and that is exactly what he did. How could he not follow the woman he loved? Whilst Abby was keeping track of Ziva's cell phone signal, Jethro followed her to France and had arrived at her new home at almost midnight.

He smiled whilst sat on the sofa, still listening to the soft sounds of his wife upstairs with their daughter, he remembered the day he arrived in France like it was yesterday. He remembered the shocked look on her face, but also her expression revealed relief, happiness and joy at seeing her lover on her doorstep in the dead of night.

Ziva looked down at her now sleeping daughter in her arms, she loved to watch her as she slept and feel the weight of her in her arms. Her daughter and her husband were her world. Jethro had retired the day he left Washington, D.C and they were currently living off his N.C.I.S and U.S Marine pensions as well as the surprising amount he had managed to stash away for a 'rainy day'.

They did not live in riches, but they did live in happiness and with great love in their hearts.

Gently Ziva laid her daughter into the hand made wooden crib that matched the beautifully made rocking chair that the little girl's blue eyed father had made specially for her nursery. He had been so excited when he found out that they were going to have a little girl, he made the entire nursery furniture from wood that they had on the land. The surrounding trees were simply perfect for his woodwork projects and he had a lovely place to relax and do what he enjoyed.

Sarah stirred a little as she was placed softly onto the memory foam cot mattress that lay in the bottom of the mahogany stained oak crib but as her mother placed her soft and loving hand onto the little girl's stomach in a reassuring manner, the little girl soon stopped and stayed asleep before her mother carefully pulled the covers over her. The covers were light pink, with a slightly darker pink embroidered flowers on it and little butterflies and the cot bumper, valance sheet, fitted sheet and pillow matched with the quilted cover that now lay over the little girl's body.

Quietly the Israeli mother tiptoed down the stairs of their homely cottage and into the sitting room where her silver haired, ex-marine husband sat on the sofa. He smiled and greeted her with a soft kiss on her lips, "Did she go down alright?" he said to her with a voice laced with love and adoration.

His dark haired wife nodded, "She did" she said simply as she leant into the arms of the man she loved, their hands laced together and their rings shone slightly in the light of the fireplace. She had wanted him to move to France with him but had been too afraid to ask him. She had been afraid that he would say no, that he would not want to move with her and how could she ask him to leave everything he knew to move half way across the world with her?

Lovingly the silver haired 'fox' as she often teasingly called him, touched her chin and gradually coached it so that she was looking up into his bright blue sparkling eyes, the eyes that his daughter had inherited from him and the eyes that always made her smile. Their lips met in a soft, loving and gentle kiss before he broke it with a smile, "I love you Zee" he said with a smile and a sparkle in his eyes. Any fool could tell that this woman was his world, his heart and his soul. He was more content than he had ever been before, and he was happier than he thought could be possible. After the deaths of Shannon and Kelly, he didn't think it would be possible to achieve either of those things ever again but the young Israeli woman had come crashing into his world, and destroyed the walls that he had held up for so long, she had managed to do what none of his ex-wives had done. She made him fall in love with her. She made him indescribably happy. She had found the key to his heart and unlocked it with the love of her own.

She smiled happily with her soft hand on his cheek, "I love you too Jethro, with all my heart and soul" and she meant every single word of it. Both of them knew that their life in France with their little girl was exactly what they wanted. and the team? well vacations to France? who would say no?


End file.
